Pile fabric



Dec. 15, 1953 LACEY 2,662,227

FILE FABRIC Filed April 4, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet .1

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EDWARD 0. LACE) MM.) fiaw A T TURNEVJ Patented Dec. 15, 1953 PIIJE FABRIC" Edwards. D.. Izaccm Eairmou'nt; Ga, assignori toi Russell-LaceyiManufacturiiigt Companmjar cor poration of. Georgia Applicationuipril 4, 1950; SeriaFNo: 153;!128

6 Claims: (CL-2 -*278).

This invention relates topile fabrics of" the type having pile tuftsinserted' in a-fabricbase; and more particularly to a-pile fabric of'this-sor-t in which pile tufts are provided in tlie form of loops and a pile surface is formed on both faces of the fabric base.-

It has long been common practice'to'-form= pile fabrics, usually referred'to as chenille b'y inserting doubled portions of a-pile yarn 'tlirough a fabric base and cutting the extending ends of the inserted yarn portions'to forma surface ofchenille ends on one faceof thefabric base. In somecases, too, the inserted yarn portions have been left uncut so that a pile surface' 'of" loops was formed instead, although this prac-- tice has always had the serious objection of lea-y'- ing the continuous pile yarn used in forming" the loops unsevered so that theloopswere-interconnected'and were accordingly easily'subject to objectionable unraveling if any portion of r the continuous pile yarn wascaughtandpulled" away from the fabric case;

More recently pile fabrics have beendeveloped as disclosed in U. S. Patents 2,'l8'2;6'82' and 2,482,683 to Moore, in which pile tufts are insorted in a fabric base-in a unique" mannerso thata pile surface is provided 'on'both'facesof the fabric base; by inserting the d'oubled'yarn portions to'form loops on oneface'and cutting the pile yarn in spaced relation to the-other face to form chenille ends.

In accordance with thepresent invention a pile fabric of this same general-typeis provided in' which a pile surface of loopsis'formed on'botlr faces of the fabric base in a mannerwhich obvi ates the diificulties heretofore encounteredfwith unraveling, and'which accordingly providesa pjile. fabric that is equally as serviceable as: those dis closed in the above noted Moore patents and that has the further advantage of"allowing"ex= a-ctly duplicate pile patterns to be produced on each face of'the' fabric base. Briefly described; this resultis. accomplished according to the present invention by insertingthedoubled pile yarn portions at closely spaced intervals. in the fabric. base so that a random entanglement and interlockinQofadjacent loops is obtained asthe-pilefabric is formed-which effectively prevents later: withdrawal of the continuous pile yarn: to--unravel the loops.

The pile fabric of the present invention-and" the method by which it is formedaredescribed; inf urther; detail below in.connectioniwithcthe accompanying drawings, iniwhich Fig. l'isa plan view "of a pile -fabric'rug for-med in accordance with the present" inventionhavingbothfaces coveredwitli-loops;

2 is a plan view representing a va'riat'ion of the" rug shown in' Fig; 1', having sections of trating themanner in which the loops are formed inproducing pile fabricinaccordance with the present invention.

Referring nowin detail T to the drawings-,- and more particularly at first to-Fig; 1, a" reversible pile fabric rug formed in accordance with the present invention is shown; as indicated generall'yby the referencenumeral H), with pile surfaces of loops arranged on-bothof'its-faces asat l2 and It. The nature of the loops forming the pile surfaces I2 and li is further illustrated in Fig. 3 r in which successive doubled portions of a continuous" pile yarn strand iG are inserted through a fabric base it} to-form loops 20 extending from one face=of-the fabric base- I83 Between thesuccessive inserted loops- 20,- the continuous'pile yarn lfi istrained in relation to the opposite-face of the-fabric base i8'to form bights or loops'extendingfrom this other face asat 22. The loops Zfiare inserted in the fabric base l8 contiguouslyin rowsso that a' random entanglement and interlocking of at least the trained loops 22; and of the insertedloops 2G to some extent too, occurs as the pile fabric liiis formed'which results in eifectively preventing withdrawal of the continuous"pile-yarn iiifrom the fabric-base I 3 afterthe" loops 2% and 22 are formed; aSZWlI]. appear more in detail presently.

It'willibe noted that formation of the loops 20and 22iin themanner just described above arranges them to formexactly. duplicate pile patternsionbothlifaces i2 and I4- of the pile fabric 3 rug l0, and this-feature of .the present inventionmay be employed advantageously. as illustrated in Fig. 2 toiobtain modifiedpile patterns in which pile. surface portions of chenilleends :at 2 4* may be arranged alternatively with. pile surface portions of loopsasat'ffi; and with the'pilesurface patterns on. each. face "of-'2 the; pile. fabric rug i0 shown" in Fig.1. 2 'still maintained: as exact duplicates'. Such alternate" pile? surface portions of chenille-Lends-24 rmay berformetl by means:such; asaisshown'in U. S: Patent 2;482;647' to: Bradwellm and Brock. Fig. 4 shows an enlarged illustration of this modified arrangement of the pile fabric rug ID, in which the chenille ends forming the pile surface portions 24 are indicated at 28, and the inserted and trained loops forming the pile surface portions 26 are indicated at 20 and 22, respectively.

The method of forming a reversible pile fabric rug in accordance with the present invention is illustrated in Figs. 5, 6, and '7 of the drawing, in which a suitable work support as at 3B, and an associated presser foot 32, are shown arranged to dispose the fabric base 18 for insertion of doubled portions of the continuous pile yarn 16 by a reciprocating needle 34 to form the inserted loops 20 on each downstroke. Lower loopers as at 36 and 38 are arranged below the work support 30 to take each doubled pile yarn portion after insertion by the needle 34 and hold the resulting inserted loop 26 at a predetermined length against withdrawal as the reciprocating needle 34 is withdrawn on its upstroke. With the inserted loops 28 held in this manner, the upstroke of the reciprocating needle 3'6 results in extending the continuous pile yarn i6 upwardly from the other face of the fabric base 18, and a lateral looper 49 is arranged above the work support 39 to train the loops 22 from this face.

The lateral looper 4G is shown in Fig. at its farthest retracted position holding a trained loop 22, taken from the needle 34 during its Previous cycle of operation, against withdrawal and at a predetermined length during the downstroke of the needle 34 to insert the next succeeding loop 29. It will be noted that this lateral looper 49 operates to pull each trained loop 22 to a position extending laterally from the fabric base 18 toward the trained loops 22 already formed. This lateral pulling of the trained loops 22 results in stretching them taut which has a tendency to remove the twist temporarily from the yarn portion forming the trained loop 22, so that upon release the trained loop 22 tends to snap back from its taut position as it regains its twist, which has the further effect of inducing a pronounced curl in the trained loops 22, and because these loops 22 are extending laterally toward the previously formed trained loops 22 as they are formed, the random entanglement of each trained loop 22 as it is released with the previously trained loops 22 is made possible.

In the event that a given trained loop 22 does not become entangled with the previously trained loops 22 as it is released, the manner in which it snaps back to regain its twist after release may further result in disposing it in the path of the needle 34 so that it becomes interlocked with a succeeding trained loop 22 as the needle 34 passes through the fabric base 18 to insert a succeeding doubled portion of the pile yarn If. The resulting entanglement of trained loops 22 as just described above is illustrated in Fig. 3 at E, and interlocking of the trained loops 22 at I, and it will be seen that this entanglement and interlocking of the trained loops 22 as they are formed effectively prevents withdrawal of the continuous pile yarn I6 from the pile fabric rug Ill.

The release of each trained loop 22 takes place as the lateral looper Ail moves forward, as illustrated in Fig. 6, toward the needle 34 from its retracted position to take and form the next succeeding trained loop 22. This forward movement of the lateral looper 49 takes place during the upstroke of the needle 34, so that it passes the needle 34 and is in position to pass beneath the needle 34 and take the pile yarn strand [6 at about the time the needle 34 reaches the top of its stroke as illustrated is Fig. 7. The arrangement and operation of a lateral looper 40 of this sort is described in detail and claimed in the copending application of W. V. Williams, Serial No. 153,959 filed April 4, 1950, now Patent No. 2,625,125, dated January 13, 1953, to which reference is made for further details. The method of forming the pile fabric of the present invention is claimed in divisional application Serial No. 311,439, filed September 11, 1952, and means for forming this pile fabric is claimed in divisional application Serial No. 311,440, filed September 11, 1952.

I claim:

1. A pile fabric comprising a fabric base having doubled portions of a continuous pile yarn inserted therein at closely spaced intervals and extending from both faces of the fabric base in the form of loops, the adjacent loops on at least one face of said fabric base being randomly entangled and interlocked whereby withdrawal of said continuous pile yarn from said fabric base is prevented.

2. A pile fabric comprising a fabric base having doubled portions of a continuous pile yarn inserted therein at spaced intervals and extending from both faces of the fabric base in the form of loops, the spacing of the intervals at which said doubled pile yarn portions are inserted in said fabric base being substantially less than the length of the loops formed on the faces of said fabric base whereby a random entanglement and interlocking of adjacent loops is ob-- tained for preventing withdrawal of said continuous pile yarn from said fabric base.

3. A pile fabric comprising a fabric base having doubled portions of a continuous pile yarn inserted therein contiguously in rows and extending from both faces of the fabric base in the form of loops with the adjacent loops on at least one face of said fabric base randomly entangled and interlocked whereby withdrawal of said continuous pile yarn from said fabric base is prevented.

4. A pile fabric comprising a fabric base having succeeding doubled portions of a continuous pile yarn inserted therein contiguously in rows to form loops extending from one face of said fabric base and trained in relation to the other face of said fabric base to extend in the form of loops from said other face as well with the loops extending from said other face randomly entangled and interlocked whereby withdrawal of said continuous pile yarn from said fabric base is prevented.

5. A reversible pile fabric comprising a fabric base having doubled portions of a continuous pile yarn inserted therein at spaced intervals to extend from one face of said fabric base in the form of loops of uniform predetermined length, and bights formed in said continuous pile yarn alterlately with said inserted doubled portions to extend from the opposite face of said fabric base in the form of loops of uniform predetermined length, the spacing of the intervals at which said doubled pile yarn portions are inserted in said fabric base being substantially less than the length of the loops formed by said bights whereby a random entanglement and interlocking of said last mentioned loops is obtained for preventing withdrawal of said continuous pile yarn from said fabric base.

6. A pile fabric comprising a fabric base having doubled portions of a continuous pile yarn inserted therein contiguously in rows and extending from both faces of the fabric base, certain rows of said doubled pile yarn portions being cut to form chenille ends in an exactly duplicate pattern on both faces of said fabric base, and the remaining doubled pile yarn portions extending from both faces of said fabric base in patterns which are likewise exactly duplicate and with the adjacent loops on at least one face of said fabric base randomly entangled and interlocked whereby withdrawal from said fabric base of the continuous pile yarn forming said loops is prevented.

EDWARD D. LACEY.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number 15 25,147

Name Date Ashly Aug. 23, 1932 Gladish May 2, 1933 Ungen Nov. 5, 1940 Kahn June 26, 1945 Mosseller Oct. 15, 1946 Michaelis June 15, 1948 Bradwell et a1 Sept. 20, 1949 Blumfield May 23, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Great Britain Nov. 15, 1902 

